Finally moving to digital

[SLR_GUY]

Well after a couple of years shooting film and slides, I'm moving to digital, SLRs. What accesories should I get along with other lenses, hoods, and bags?

 

[vonnagy]

a good pc with lots o ram, hard drive space, photoshop and a dvd burner.

oh exta flash cards and an extra battery. the xtra battery will be a life saver.

 

[mentos_007]

extra hard drive ... or some of about 80 GB

 

[green]

if you do a lot of photography, get at least one 1GB memory card. mine can hold anywhere from 150-1500 images depending on the size i shoot (granted i have never used the lowest setting, why bother with that much space)

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Good monitor... a colorimeter... an 8 ink printer... a notebook or a portable hd... 5 extra batteries... photoshop... about 100 plug ins for it... sensor cleaning kit...

That should start you off

 

[SLR_GUY]

Good monitor... a colorimeter... an 8 ink printer... a notebook or a portable hd... 5 extra batteries... photoshop... about 100 plug ins for it... sensor cleaning kit...

Do you mean a computer notebook?

What about Flashes?

And what size lense should I have? 28-105mm?

 

[doxx]

calibrate your monitor - a $250 spyder (or similar) will do the trick

 

[absolut]

[/quote]
Do you mean a computer notebook?

What about Flashes?

And what size lense should I have? 28-105mm?[/quote]

Well a computer notebook would be great if you travel a lot. Other solution may be a data bank or so called image bank (you may use ipod for this if you equip it with a special card reader - and then you will have higly portable and posh mp3 player + a portable hard drive to hold your photos).

Flash cards are a must and it's good to have at least two of them. Basically the more the better, but keep in mind there are lots of flash cards available and I would recommend you getting CF ultra or high speed, which are much faster than standard CF cards.

Concerning lenses it's the same as with traditional SLR - you choose them to fit the assignment. Keep in mind the factor of ranging from 1x-1.7x (1.6x in canon 10d and forthcoming 20d) which limits the wide angle use.
Well the necessary lenses I would say would be a wide angle lens (17-40/f4 by canon is worth checking) and a telephoto say 70-200. But as I said it all depends on the photos you're taking and based on that you should choose lenses for your camera.

 

[danalec99]

Other solution may be a data bank or so called image bank (you may use ipod for this if you equip it with a special card reader - and then you will have higly portable and posh mp3 player + a portable hard drive to hold your photos).

This special card reader; is it from Apple? Can it save any file formats? What would be the size of the hdrive?

 

[absolut]

This special card reader; is it from Apple? Can it save any file formats? What would be the size of the hdrive?

The media reader is produced by Belkin - have a look at http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7418LL/A to see how it looks like (costs $99).

The capacity of iPod can be 20GB or 40GB - they have it also with 5GB HD as far as I remember. All can be found at apple website.

 

[danalec99]

This special card reader; is it from Apple? Can it save any file formats? What would be the size of the hdrive?

The media reader is produced by Belkin - have a look at http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?productLearnMore=T7418LL/A to see how it looks like (costs $99).

The capacity of iPod can be 20GB or 40GB - they have it also with 5GB HD as far as I remember. All can be found at apple website.

Great info! Thanks absolut .

 

[DocFrankenstein]

Do you mean a computer notebook?

Yep. You can download your pics on it and see the kind of quality you got. I've lost a quite a few shots at the zoo because I don't have one.

What about Flashes?

And what size lense should I have? 28-105mm?

I was assuming you have flashes, cause you need them for film too. I can't answer that question, cause I'll need at least the Camera name, your budget and the subjects you shoot.

28-105 may lack the wide angle you want, cause the crop factor. Seems like you're not gonna be getting a full frame SLR just yet.

With lenses, you get what you pay for. Usually, a 1500 dollar lens is worth every cent with the quality it provides.

No matter how cheap a zoom you shoose, you should get a 50 mm prime. It's going to be much sharper than a zoom (usually) and you'll be able to create artistic photos because of the shallow depth of field.

For all you know, you can get 28-200 which will be your "on camera" lens, but the quality will suck. A dSLR body costs about a grand today, but to get the maximum quality out of it, you should get either a prime or top of the line zoom.

Anyways... lenses are expensive. Ideally, you'd need a fast 70-200 f/2.8, a wide angle 17-40 L and a 50mm prime... Which would be around 1800 USD...

You're gonna wonder about which lens to get for many sleepless nights.